From neurologist to a politician

Eyad Allawi is one of a US-backed clique of secular Iraqi politicians who lived in exile until the fall of Saddam Hussain's regime in April 2003. Albeit this fact, his outlook is Pan Arab, as he believes in the Arab roots of Iraq as an entity which is a vital part of the Arab world.

Allawi was born in 1945 to a prominent Shiite Muslim merchant family. He trained as a neurologist and joined the Ba'ath party movement as a young man. But when the party came to power, he fell out with Saddam Hussain in the early 1970s and was forced to go into exile.

Allawi was badly wounded in an assassination attempt while living in the UK in 1978, believed to have been ordered by Saddam Hussain.

Allawi co-established the Iraqi National Accord (INA) party in 1991. And since its foundation with the backing of the US and the UK, the group supported the idea of fostering a coup from within the Iraqi army to overthrow Saddam Hussain.

Allawi is well-connected politically in Washington and London, has extensive business dealings and has close relations with Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Egypt.

Since joining the Iraqi Governing Council, Allawi's work has been focused on running the IGC's security committee, which has been responsible for building up the new Iraqi army, police and intelligence service.